HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Williams, R. M Articles by Myers, A. M Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Williams, R. M Articles by Myers, A. M Related Collections Injuries and Conditions: Low Back Outcomes Measurement Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

A New Approach to Measuring Recovery in Injured Workers With Acute Low Back Pain: Resumption of Activities of Daily Living Scale

RM Williams, PhD, PT, is Assistant Professor, School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University, Bldg T-16, Room 128G, 1280 Main St W, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1 (rwilliam@fhs.mcmaster.ca).
AM Myers, PhD, is Associate Professor, Department of Health Studies and Gerontology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
This study was completed in fulfillment of the thesis requirements for Dr Williams' Doctor of Philosophy in Health Studies degree at the University of Waterloo.

Background and Purpose. Spontaneous recovery, job satisfaction, and multiple other factors make return to work a highly problematic indicator. Available client questionnaires fail to consider what was "normal" or "usual" prior to low back injury. Based on themes described by injured persons, we suggest a new approach to determining "recovery"—the Resumption of Activities of Daily Living (RADL) Scale. Subjects. Injured persons and their therapists from 8 different clinics participated in the study. Methods. Twenty subjects completed the RADL twice, about 2 days apart, for assessment of test-retest reliability. The RADL was administered, along with other questionnaires, to a separate group of 94 subjects at clinic entry and at discharge or 3 weeks after clinic entry. Both subjects and clinicians made baseline predictions concerning return to work and global ratings of improvement and ability to return to work at follow-up. Results. The RADL showed good psychometric properties (ie, test-retest reliability, internal consistency, responsiveness to change, and discriminative abilities). Conclusion and Discussion. The RADL provides a new, standardized measure for assessing the extent of recovery from the time of injury to initiation of treatment, and concurrent with the course of treatment, using the individual's customary level of functioning as the benchmark.

Key Words: Back injuries • Recovery • Rehabilitation

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				U. G. Longo, M. Loppini, L. Denaro, N. Maffulli, and V. Denaro Rating scales for low back pain Br. Med. Bull., January 10, 2010; (2010) ldp052v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]